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If psychedelic music aims to be transportive, then Moon Duo’s destination looks something like a Village nightclub featuring the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Sanae Yamada’s synths swirl together with Riply Johnson’s guitar while drummer John Jeffrey plays with motorik precision. Hypnotic visuals play a game of hiding and showing the musicians. Moon Duo play songs for the dark and urban, and naming their recent two-volume album Occult Architecture underscores the time and place of their music. Song titles like “The Death Set,” “Creepin’,” and “Cult of Moloch” tell you this setting shouldn’t be comforting. Capping off the set is a cover of those most-sinister Stooges: “No Fun” gets washed in synth flourishes while Johnson does his best Iggy. The psychedelic sixties are here.

I recorded this from the soundboard cage with the AKG’s set up in DIN stereo configuration, combined with a board feed courtesy of FOH Terry Mattson and Moon Duo’s touring engineer. The sound is spectacular. Enjoy!

Moon Duo anchored a night of psychedelic and punk music in Raleigh’s Contemporary Art Museum on the second night of Hopscotch Music Festival. We caught up with the band earlier this year at Rough Trade, but weren’t able to catch this Hopscotch set. Luckily, our man “Rumbleseat” was in attendance, and captured this band in all its glory, against a fractal backdrop that felt right at home in the cavernous CAM. As with the Rough Trade set, Moon Duo moved around their catalog a bit, including material from their latest Sacred Bones release, Shadow of the Sun. We were especially happy to get to hear a live version of “Free Action,” which we didn’t get to see at their recent sets in New York. This performance no doubt set the mood for the heads who stuck around to see Roky Erickson do his thing to finish the night. Clearly, Moon Duo learned some lessons from him, and more.

Rumbleseat recorded this set with two sets of mics, Church Audio CA-11s on the ceiling and Shure SM-57s on stage, combined with a soundboard feed. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada have been making music as Moon Duo for a while now, churning out consistent albums on Sacred Bones (and earlier, Woodsist) that have delighted both Wooden Shjips fans and those who were drawn to the more organ-driven sound led by Yamada. With Shadow of the Sun, and this latest tour, the band has swung a bit more to the rock side of the things, bringing on drummer John Jeffrey, who appeared on the Live in Ravenna album as well. If Shadow represents yet another refinement rather than a quantum leap, the addition of the live drumming is noticeable, and even more so in the actual concert space — compare this set, for example, with the set I recorded in 2010.

Fans of the Ravenna live set would agree that this set at Rough Trade NYC built on some of the good things you can see there, with the live drums adding viscosity and punch to the band’s hypnotic flow. The set consisted of just under half-Shadow of the Sun material. “Wilding” made for as good a kickoff for the live set as it did for the album, while “Thieves” gave Ripley an opportunity for a hardcore guitar freakout. The trio were barely visible most of the time, shrouded by an electric light show that matched the pace and vibe of the setlist. The seventy minutes ended on a high note, with an extended “Set It On Fire” that, by the time it ended, made you feel almost as if you’d woken from a dream. This band can do that to you.

I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4V microphones mounted inside the soundboard cage, together with engineer Nick Cameron. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

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